ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: CSA announces South Africa's 15-man squad for the tournament
South Africa will face the hosts England in the tournament opener on May 30.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) has come up with the Proteas’ 15-man squad for the upcoming World Cup starting on May 30. All the eyes were on the selectors as Hashim Amla‘s place in the team wasn’t. The 36-year-old was out of form during the Test series against Sri Lanka and then wasn’t included in the first three ODIs against the same team. Though Amla was set to feature at the back end of the series, he withdrew due to personal reasons.
However, the selectors have decided to go with his experience despite not playing enough cricket recently. Hashim Amla will be playing his last World Cup and so is Dale Steyn who has also made a storming comeback into the national side. Undoubtedly, Faf du Plessis will lead the side during the mega event while the likes of Quinton de Kock, Andile Phehlukwayo, David Miller and Kagiso Rabada have also made it to the squad and were anyways certainties.
Hendricks sidelined and Duminy picked
Meanwhile, the 15-man squad meant a few of the players had to be left out and Reeza Hendricks’ poor form in the last few ODIs has led to the selectors overlooking him. Aiden Markram stacked up some amazing numbers in List A cricket and couldn’t have been ignored. Also, there was always a toss-up between Hendricks and Amla and the latter has made the cut eventually and Rassie van der Dussen made a strong case by piling on the runs whenever he got the opportunity.
JP Duminy was sidelined for the majority of the summer due to his shoulder injury. However, he was fit in time to play in the last few matches of the domestic One-Day tournament to prove his fitness. His place was never in doubt and it was only about him being match fit. The injury woes didn’t end here for South Africa as Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje had to miss out on the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).
Having said that, both the bowlers have been included in the World Cup and are expected to get fit ahead of the team’s season opener. Apart from them, Tabraiz Shamsi has been picked as the backup spinner for the leggie Imran Tahir and Dwaine Pretorius is the other all-rounder.
Here’s South Africa’s squad for the World Cup:
Faf du Plessis (c), JP Duminy, David Miller, Dale Steyn, Andile Phehlukwayo, Imran Tahir, Kagiso Rabada, Dwaine Pretorius, Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Hashim Amla, Tabraiz Shamsi.
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